Do you get paid if weather prevents you going to work? (employees, degree)

[usabound]

Hi
I live in Australia and was watching the bad snow storms in the US on our news.
We have cold weather here and some snowy areas but nothing like the weather in the US.

I was curious, if it is snowing & you cant travel to work, do you still get paid?
I assume if you are low income or hourly paid, then no but what about middle to high income?
Do you make up the time?
What if you are stuck at home for a week?


Enjoy your snow, it is hot where i am today & my air con is on !!!

[myrc60]

In the areas where it snows a lot it usually only takes a day or two to dig out. Where I live in South Carolina we wait for it to melt and that means a lot of businesses close for a day or two.

When I lived in Chicago the last place I worked at did occasionally pay their staff for a snow day but many times we just took a personal day or vacation day or made up the time.

[chet everett]

Work from home is pretty common as an 'option' with most of the workforce supplied with laptops /VPN in many firms, but fears of lax oversight make it mostly a "plan b"...

[annerk]

When I lived up north it really varied by company. One of the larger corporations I worked for closed about once or twice a year due to bad weather--salaried employees were asked to work from home if possible, but either way you were paid for the day.

I haven't had an hourly job in 20 years, but my recollection is that hourly employees didn't get paid when they didn't work, even if it was weather related.

[wheelsup]

I'm hourly and get paid no matter what. If I'm scheduled to work I get paid.

[kodaka]

I lived in Chicago for nearly a decade and never once was I paid to stay home because of the weather. I believe on occasion, if the government declares a state of emergency and orders all non-emergency vehicles off the road, then most employers will pay you for the day off, although private employers are not required to. But the weather was never severe enough to call such an emergency. Three feet of snow, howling wind, and zero-degree temperature is not enough to shut Chicago down.

I lived in Montana for another near-decade of my life and such a state of emergency was only declared once. We weren't paid for the days off but we weren't fired for not showing up.

Now I live in DC where the government, federal and local, declare emergencies for even the prediction of a snowflake. They like to claim that our southern location isn't prepared to deal with wintery weather but the truth is we get snow several times a winter and the city has the equipment to clear snow and salt the roads. They just don't. When emergencies are declared, government employees and government contractors are allowed to stay home and get paid. The millions of private sector employees still have to go to work, won't get paid if they don't, and their job is not protected due to circumstances.

There's always exceptions of course, and there's no law that prevents an employer from offering perks like paid snow days. But there's also no law that requires they pay you for work you didn't do, and so most won't.

[annika08]

Originally Posted by usabound

Hi
I live in Australia and was watching the bad snow storms in the US on our news.
We have cold weather here and some snowy areas but nothing like the weather in the US.

I was curious, if it is snowing & you cant travel to work, do you still get paid?
I assume if you are low income or hourly paid, then no but what about middle to high income?
Do you make up the time?
What if you are stuck at home for a week?


Enjoy your snow, it is hot where i am today & my air con is on !!!

I am expected to be at work on time, no matter how bad the weather is.

I live in Michigan, where the winters are atrocious and the roads are rarely plowed. More road cutbacks means there will be no plowing unless there is a minimum of 4" of snow. This was in the our local news, shortly before our first storm earlier this evening. Coming to work on 3rd shift was not fun.

[free_food]

It varies from company to company and department to department. Where I'm at now, we just work from home via VPN and company provided laptop.

[annerk]

I should add that here in Florida it's not snow but rather hurricanes that close businesses. I was paid for the day when the one I was working for closed a couple of years ago. Last year I was working from home and kept working through it.

The people I know who are hourly aren't paid for the day, but usually there is overtime before and then after available to help get ready and then clean-up (even in offices where all computers need to be placed up on desks and covered in plastic, etc. in advance) so that helps to make up for the lost hours.

[fishbrains]

This does vary from company to company, state to state. Generally you will only get paid if the snow is bad enough (which varies depending on your location) and you have some type of leave available to cover it (unused vacation/sick).